What's In A New York Name?

Many Reflect Fashion Trends, Family Roots

October 9, 2005|By Jennifer 8. Lee The New York Times

NEW YORK — In the past several years, New York City has had more baby girls born named Fatoumata than Lisa, more Aaliyahs than Melissas, more Chayas than Christinas. There have been more baby boys named Moshe than Peter, more Miguels than Jeffreys, more Ahmeds than Stanleys.

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently released the name breakdown for the 124,099 babies born in New York City in 2004. That, together with data stretching back to 1920, shows that in a city that is fashion-conscious and full of immigrants, some foreign-sounding names have become arguably more New York than American classics like Carol, Susan, Stephen and Harry.

But the reverse also happens: Jose and Luis were the top two names for Hispanic baby boys in 1980. But today they have slipped out of the top 10, behind names like Brandon, Kevin and Christopher. The top Hispanic baby name today is Justin.

There is a lot in a name. One of an individual's most defining characteristics, a name also says just as much, if not more, about the country, the city, even the family in which that person lives. Names speak to parents' aspirations for their children. Everyone has one, and, of course, they are free.

It is not news that the ethnic makeup of New York City is changing and has been for decades. But the effect on the names of the city's newborns can be dramatic, and surprising.

"When you look at the incredible diversity of the top of the New York naming list," said Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard (Broadway Books, 2005), "there are two different phenomena working together. There is the rising diversity of the population and the willingness to use names from your ethnic background rather than adopting an Anglo name, which is a change from past generations. At the same time, there is a fall of the usage of the Anglo-Christian classics."

Names distill society's identity, priorities and taste, said Stanley Lieberson, a Harvard sociology professor who wrote A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions and Culture Change (Yale, 2000).

And because few special interest groups have anything to gain in baby name selection, "It's clean from commercial influences and not simply a reflection of affluence," Lieberson said.

According to the names released on Sept. 16, Michael and Emily still hang on to their top positions, with Daniel and Ashley close behind. However, there were differences across groups, with Emily the most popular name among Asian-Americans, Ashley the top name for Hispanics, Kayla among blacks and Sarah for whites. And, just for the record, there were 27 Katrinas born last year, placing it out of the top 300.

Looking beyond the top 10, the ebb and flow of changes over the years becomes more apparent.

Religion is the biggest influence on names around the world. Some of that is reflected in New York City, which attracts a wide cross section of Catholics, Jews, Muslims and Hindus, all of whom have strong religious naming traditions.

Added up, the spellings of Muhammad, which vary across the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia -- Mohammed, Mohammad, Mohamed, Muhammad, Mouhamed -- make it a top 40 name, ahead of Richard and Charles.

The city's large Hasidic population has pushed Moshe to No. 62, Mordechai to 127 and Shlomo to 143. Angel (26 in 2004 overall) and Jesus, 81, are popular among Hispanic boys, as are names of Catholic saints. Esther, Grace and Hannah have long been popular for Korean-American girls nationwide because of the Christian missionary influence, Lieberson said. Fatoumata, an immensely popular West African name that was given to 41 of the city's baby girls in 2004, may be a local variation of the Arabic Muslim name, Fatima, though its exact origins are unclear.

Currently, the stylish trend for boys is two-syllable names ending in "en" that feature strong vowels and soft consonants. In particular, the "aden" family of names is surging up the charts in New York and the rest of the country: Aiden, Caden, Hayden, Jayden. The various spellings of Jayden -- Jaden, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaiden, Jayden, Jaydin, Jaydon -- added together would make it a top 10 name in New York City.